Hillel in Russia

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Hillel in towns Moskow Saint-Petersburg

HILLEL: THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE

The largest Jewish campus organization in the world, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life provides opportunities for Jewish students to explore and celebrate their Jewish identity through its global network of over 500 regional centers, campus Foundations, program centers and affiliates.

WHAT IS HILLEL IN THE FSU?

Hillel is inspiring a renaissance of Jewish life in the former Soviet Union (FSU). Hillel impacts upon thousands of students, their families and communities, providing a unique vehicle for Jewish experiences, cultural expressions and the building blocks for Jewish community renewal.
Launched in 1994 in Moscow, Hillel in the FSU operated as a community-based rather than a campus-based organization. Jewish students were recruited from a variety of academic institutions to participate in religious, educational, social, cultural, leadership, Israel and community service programs. Based out of an apartment in the center of Moscow, the Hillel facility served as a gathering place and a nerve center for the nascent organization.
Now through Regional Center in Moscow and programs in 15 cities throughout Russian Federation, Hillel provides a variety of opportunities for over 10,000 Jewish students to explore and celebrate their Jewish identities and take ownership of their individual Jewish journeys.
Hillel in Russia encompasses 15 centers : Bryansk, Ekaterinburg, Izhevsk, Kazan, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Penza, Perm, Rostov-On-Don, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Ulyanovsk
Hillel in Russia also offers leadership training and program support to student groups and their communities in Tomsk, Vladikavkaz, Nizhniy Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Pskov.

Hillel in the former Soviet Union (FSU) was established with the support and vision of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and in partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

While massive emigrations in the 1990s brought hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews to Israel, Europe and the United States, approximately 1.5 million Jews remain in the former Soviet Union - including an estimated 75,000 ы 80,000 college students. Most are Jewishly ignorant, but eager to reclaim their heritage and sense of Jewish identity that was denied them for so many years.

Those Jews that have chosen to remain in the former Soviet Union face the enormous challenge of rebuilding a sense of community after 75 years of Communist oppression and erasure of Jewish life. Today, young people can openly practice their faith, express themselves and congregate freely as Jews. Yet, most college-age students lack basic knowledge about their Jewish identity. Now that they can openly be Jewish, students are grappling with questions about their future. What does it mean to be a Jew? How do they lead a Jewish life and build a Jewish family? Should they remain in the countries of their birth or emigrate to Israel or the West?

Hillel's primary goal, developing a new generation of proud and learning Jews, is crucial for the rebuilding of Jewish life in the FSU. Hillel offers the tools and skills to young adults to become knowledgeable and impassioned about belonging to the Jewish people. By empowering those students already involved in Jewish life, and through engaging the majority of Jewish students who have no tie to the Jewish community, Hillel is inspiring these young people as future leaders of the FSU Jewish community. Students, in turn, spread their newfound knowledge to their grandparents, parents, siblings and others through student-run community-wide projects.

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF HILLEL IN THE FSU?

The mission of Hillel in the FSU is similar to that of Hillel foundations throughout the world: to maximize the number of Jews doing Jewish with other Jews. Hillel in the FSU, however, adapts this mission to meet the specific needs of FSU students. The Jewish communities in the FSU are slowly rebuilding their leadership, knowledge base, and sense of connection with their past. FSU Jewish students have a unique opportunity through Hillel to discover their Jewish heritage in a way that resonates for them. Hillel actively engages Jewish students on their own terms, and provides them with opportunities to define, explore and celebrate their Judaism. Hillel also empowers students to take responsibility for their Jewish identities, whether they participate in community service projects, express themselves artistically, participate in social events, engage in informal Jewish learning opportunities, take part in a leadership training program, creatively celebrate Shabbat and the Jewish holidays, or initiate progra m ideas as part of their own development as Jewish leaders. Hillel does not espouse any particular political or religious agenda, thereby offering a safe and welcoming place for students to connect to their Judaism in a variety of meaningful ways.

Hillel in the FSU developed both internal and external opportunities to create a Hillel culture, to train students and professionals, and to enlist the support of North Americans, Israelis and others. Seminars, congresses and conferences brought students and professionals together several times a year regionally or across the FSU. Students and professionals also participated in educational programs in Israel and the U.S. Missions to the FSU from the U.S. and Canada organized through JDC encountered Hillel students in a variety of cities and settings. A number of students with strong English language skills visited twinned and other communities in the U.S. each year to share their pride in the Hillel experience and their gratitude for funding and other support.